Introduction
Moldova is a small country on the eastern border of the FSU. To the west, it borders Romania-of which Moldova was a part between the World Wars-otherwise it is surrounded by Ukraine. Romanian Moldovans constitute 65% of the population; minority contingents include Ukrainians, Russians, Gagauz, Bulgarians, and about 50,000 Jews (1.5% of the total population). The economy is weak but slowly improving, as Moldovans adjust to an increased private sector and other IMF-mandated reforms.
Moldova broke off from the Soviet Union in 1991, but the country is fractured along ethnic lines. The ethnic Russian Transdniestr region declared its autonomy from Moldova in 1992; the Gagauz minority declared their independent state in southern Moldova. Neither state is recognized by the international community, but Russian and Cossack army units patrol the Transdniestr. In a 1994 referendum, the Moldovan people voted overwhelming to not reunify with Romania.
Meanwhile, the government approved a constitution in 1994, and multi-party elections were soon held. Former Communist Party Secretary of Agriculture Mircea Snegur was President of Moldova from 1992 to January 1997; he was replaced by independent candidate Petru Luchinschi. In 1995, Snegur split from his Democratic Agrarian Party due to its lack of commitment to economic reform and cooperation with extremist and pro-Soviet forces. He formed a new party, the Party of Revival and Reconciliation of Moldova (PRCM).
Jewish Life
About half of Moldova's Jews live in the capital of Kishinev (Chisinau); other communities exist in Beltsy, Soroka, and Tiraspol. The Kishinev community supports a Jewish school, day-care centers, a yeshiva, a library, a burial association, a synagogue, and a Jewish museum. The Jewish Open University opened recently, and courses on Hebrew, Yiddish, and Judaica are offered at the State University. Nash Golos is a Jewish newspaper, and Jewish programming is offered on the radio and on television. Bendery and Tiraspol also support synagogues and cultural activities, upon which local Jewish life is centered. National Jewish life is highly coordinated by the Jewish Cultural Organization, which has branches in most of the major cities.
Thousands of Jews have emigrated from Moldova since 1992, many of them fleeing the fighting in Transdniester. Jewish agencies have facilitated the exodus of hundreds of Jews from Tiraspol to Israel.
Antisemitism and the Government Response
Moldovan Jews find themselves caught in the middle of the struggle between the Russian and Moldovan ethnic groups. Because many of them do not speak Moldovan (Moldova's national language), they have been denied employment under a new language law. While Hebrew and Yiddish are officially supported as minority languages, citizens must now have a command of Moldovan or risk losing their jobs. On the other hand, the Jews are wary of the presence of Cossack volunteer militiamen in Transdniester, many of whom are openly supportive of fascismand antisemitism. Jews on both sides of the divide have been conscripted to their respective armies.
While the Moldovan government has allowed the Jewish press to publish with relative independence, antisemitic articles have appeared in several papers. In addition, there have been several instances of desecrations of Jewish cemeteries and antisemitic graffiti.
The Snegur government pledged to accommodate ethnic minorities, including Jews, in Moldovan society. Some parliamentarians, including Valeriu Senik, have requested that the language-proficiency tests be suspended until the country's financial situation improves and the government has the funds available to teach people Moldovan. But some clearly antisemitic crimes have been classified by local authorities as "petty hooliganism" or "common vandalism," ignoring protests from Jewish leaders. And several government promises-to develop Jewish culture, to reserve buildings for synagogues, etc.-have gone largely unfulfilled.
Zushe Abelsky, a Jewish leader of Kishinev for three years, reports that there is "little antisemitism" in Moldova. Despite his black hat and beard, signaling his Jewish-Lubavitch identity, he has had "few problems." "But there is antisemitism," he continues. "A child was bitten in school, and there is discrimination against Jewish soldiers in the army."
Meanwhile, in Transdniestr, synagogues have been closed, Jewish activities have been suspended, and new Jewish organizations are denied official recognition. Independent reports out of that region state that the mass media are full of antisemitic articles, considerably more so than in Moldova.
William M. Cohen, the President and Chief Counsel of the Center for Human Rights Advocacy, has documented antisemitism in Moldova through extensive interviews of Moldovan Jews who arrived in the United States and Canada in 1995 and 1996. He concludes that "the historic pattern and practice of persecution against Jews in Moldova persists, and Jew there are still vulnerable to antisemitic discrimination, violence, and persecution." Furthermore, his review of Moldovan developments and conditions in general indicate that such discrimination continues "unabated by any serious or effective governmental interest in or effort to contain it."
Though it is publicly opposed to antisemitism and ostensibly supportive of Jewish religious and cultural rights, the government "is both unwilling and unable to develop or enforce laws to protect Jews from the violence, discrimination and persecution they face in day-to-day life. Economic and social conditions have deteriorated to such an extent in Moldova that there is a real risk of violent scapegoating against traditionally persecuted ethnic and religious minorities, including Jews."-Center for Human Rights Advocacy, Moldova Report, March 14, 1997
Selected Antisemitic Incidents
On the night of May 8, 1995-the 50th anniversary of V-E Day-forty gravestones in the Jewish cemetery in Kishinev were desecrated. The perpetrators were quickly apprehended by the police. Meanwhile, in Bendery, several Jews were beaten.- Institute for Jewish Policy Research Moldova Country Report, Fall 1996
In April of 1994, a leaflet advised "Kikes and Russians to quit Moldova" or face retribution. The leaflets were put in mailboxes in Kishinev; one copy was placed in a bottle and thrown through the window of a Jewish family's residence.-Institute for Jewish Policy Research Moldova Country Report, Fall 1996
In all cases, they were granted asylum, having credibly demonstrated to immigration judges that they were victims of persecution because of their Jewish identities. These summaries were made available to UCSJ by William M. Cohen, president and chief counsel of the Center for Human Rights Advocacy in Boulder, Colorado, in his report on antisemitism in Moldova, March 1997. The names have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the clients.
In 1989, Mr. G was beaten by Moldovan nationalists, but the police refused to investigate. His apartment was vandalized in 1989 and 1990-the furniture and fixtures were destroyed, and antisemitic symbols were painted on the walls. He and his wife moved in with his mother while repairs were made, but he soon learned that nationalists were occupying his home. The authorities refused to evict them. In 1991, he fled to America. Mrs. G, who stayed behind, was fired from her job in 1992 and soon afterward was beaten outside her synagogue by antisemites, who told her that "Jews are guilty of all misfortunes." She soon fled Moldova to join her husband.
At a 1993 wedding reception, Ms. A was insulted by a fellow guest, who said, "Haven't they slaughtered all the kikes yet?" Despite her attempts to ignore him, he hit her on the head with a bottle. That night, she received a phone call warning her to not complain about the incident.
In 1995, Ms. A's door was set on fire. One of the police officers on the scene told her that "all of you kikes should be gathered in one place, sprayed with gasoline and set on fire!" Soon after another Jewish family living in her building was murdered in their home, she fled the country.
A few days before she left Moldova, Ms. E was approached by a policeman who ordered her to show her passport. When she asked why, she was pushed into a police car, where two other men were sitting. The policeman said, "Let's entertain ourselves. Let's check out what kikes' wives are capable of." Ms. E frantically jumped out of the moving car onto the pavement.
Human Rights
Relative to the other former Soviet states, Moldova respects human rights. However, there have been instances of men in police uniforms beating and kidnapping journalists. The vice president of an independent television station that had been pressured by the government was kidnapped in January 1997 and has not been seen since. And in December 1995, journalist Tamara Gorinci and her husband were beaten while she was working on a series on police corruption.
The judiciary is independent of the executive branch, but prosecutors wield great power over defendants-a carryover from the Soviet system. Because the state cannot afford to pay much for legal fees, defendants who need court-appointed attorneys often receive poor representation. Moldovan prisons are overcrowded but accessible to human rights monitors; prisons in Transdniester deny monitoring visits.
History of Jews in Moldova
Jews have resided in Moldova since the eighteenth century, and they quickly flourished in Kishinev, then a growing industrial and commercial center. By 1900, Jews owned several factories, and Kishinev alone supported sixteen schools and seventy synagogues. But on Easter Day, 1903, the infamous Kishinev pogrom erupted: a mob attacked the Jewish community, leaving 49 dead, hundreds injured, and thousands homeless. Despite the ensuing international condemnation, a second pogrom in 1905 killed another 19 Jews.
The Jewish population of Moldova, which had exceeded 240,000 people in 1919, dwindled substantially, as Jews fled growing antisemitism throughout the country. During the Holocaust, 53,000 Moldovan Jews perished. Under the Soviets, religious expression was severely repressed, and only one synagogue operated in Kishinev.
Jews in Moldova have experienced minor forms of antisemitism, but it is clear that a substantial nationalist-xenophobic portion of the population is making life hard for them. The government does not advocate antisemitism as official policy. But in the breakaway region of Transdniester, the situation is considerably more odious. Slavic nationalism there is very influential, and Jews are victims of frustrated nationalistic ambitions.
Yet another act of vandalism took place at an old Jewish cemetery in Kishinev. More than 60 tombstones were destroyed. Some gravestones were partially removed, others were humiliatingly knocked down. Grave desecration has been considered a monstrous crime since the beginning of time in any human society.
This is the third destruction to occur here over the past twelve months. The previous two acts of devastation took place in the spring and summer of 1993. Some tombstones were destroyed during that first rout. During the second one, they caved in the burial vault of the former Kishinev rabbi, Tsadik Tsirelson, who had died during the first Nazi raid in Kishinev in 1941. It is difficult to say why the vandal, who threw the huge tomb into disorder, wanted to penetrate into the burial vault. Maybe he simply wanted to have fun... like those local dilettante-anti-Semites who left their "artwork" on the tombstones. Later, the relatives barely managed to scrape off the painted "malign faces" (?) off the tombstones.
Where does this phobia about the Jews come from? Does it really come from that ignorant self-assertion which was so accurately described by Thomas Mann: "anti-Semitism is the aristocratism of the rabble. It can be boiled down to a simple formula: 'Even though I am nobody, I am not a Jew.' A fool believes that he actually represents something." Apparently, the writer is right, but still, I wouldn't compare such a fool-anti-Semite on a daily basis to a Chekhovian dark evil-thinker. The times are different and people are different: they definitely heard about Babi Yar, if not about Auschwitz.
The latest rout at this Jewish cemetery is shocking not only because of its scale (we haven't had such great destruction before), but because of the executioner's mercilessness. Dozens of huge trees were also barbarously destroyed. Somebody started to arbitrarily saw them and chop them down starting last fall. Chopped down trees, evidently, were falling onto the tombstones. Broken tomb surfaces and bent down and tilted grave fences serve as prove of that. The trees were immediately processed on the spot: the branches were chopped off and the trunks sawed up. The waste matter was burnt, at times right on the graves.
The main woodcutter, as was stated by the Jewish Culture Society (JCS), was the cooperative "Yundurare" (V. Palamarchuk, Chair) which was acting until recently under the aegis of the Society. According to the Agreement with the JCS, the cooperative's responsibility was to take care of the graves and conduct necessary works at the cemetery. Since August 1993, the merciless ax was working at the cemetery, and the JCS management was satisfied with Palamarchuk's statement that all the conducted "work" had been sanctioned by the city administration.
But we don't live on the Moon. A lot of people saw what was going on. Mikhail Khazin wrote about that in "Daily Express," and there was a story about it in the TV program "On the Jewish Street." That means that it was possible to stop that axe. Alas. Now, when the events have reached their cruel pinnacle, Zapadinsky, the co-chair of the Kishinev JCS blames the chair of the ill-fated cooperative in all sins and claims that many of the ugly events over there took place as a result of Palamarchuk's permissive attitude, and "not without his personal benefit." (NG) It is quite possible that this is true. But isn't it also true that the Kishinev JCS was lenient towards such a tragic development of events by its negligence and idleness?
They say that local residents also participated in the cutting down of the trees. They were stocking up on wood for the winter. I think that we cannot be surprised at that in our havoc, considering the inflated prices for fuel. Besides, whatever one may say, the cemetery was without an owner, and, for almost a year, without guard. There used to be a police post. But it was removed. The official authorities announced that there was no money to pay for it. The problem was left open, as was the cemetery.
Therefore, the "diggers," "artists/anti-Semites" and simply robbers can act unpunished: steal, swagger, "paint" on the tombstones, easily carry their profits away through the hole in the wall.
A few marauders of the last rout found themselves in bad luck. They were arrested and are awaiting a trial. But is it only the lack of guards that can be the reason for such an unattractive spectacle that the cemetery presents today? One can hardly find such devastation and untidiness at any other cemetery. And we are talking about the land where the victims of the horrible Kishinev pogrom of 1903 are buried. After all, these silent, mournful tombstones were the last material witnesses of the bloody tragedy that shook the whole world at the dawn of the century. That is why this old cemetery is considered, quite rightfully, a historical memorial.
Now it is important to restore as soon as possible all that was broken and destroyed. Here I would like to remind you about the conclusion of a similar tragic act of vandalism that took place in February in Tbilisi. The press service of the Georgian president reported the desecration of the city cemetery. The same report noted that the head of the Georgian State ordered the city authorities to provide municipal funds for the restoration of all destroyed tombstones. That was in devastated, hungry and cold Georgia.
* By Vlad Spivak. Makler-Telegraph (Stockbroker-Telegraph), Kishinev, Moldova. No. 10 (38). March 24, 1994.
(Translated by Irina Mishurny-Santini)
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